Presidential Candidates Obama and McCain on Small Business

While small businesses create roughly two-thirds of all new American jobs, and generate roughly 70 percent of the gross national product, it's amazing that small business issues are rarely mentioned on the campaign trail and in campaign rhetoric. Here at MerchantCircle, we'll fight to make sure you know which candidate has your best interests in mind, so that you can make an informed decision for yourself.

Over the next few days, we'll send out a questionaire to a random sampling of our 575,000 merchant members to gauge your concerns and attempt to find the answers. At the very least, we'll have a clear idea on which candidates small business owners are leaning towards (even in swing states!). After speaking with merchants in Wasilla, AK about Sarah Palin (we'll do the same with the Senator Joe Biden in Scranton, PA and Wilmington, DE), it's obvious that most merchants are not sure how the two parties will affect their business.

Here's a chart from BusinessWeek on some of Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain's agendas on taxes, health care and incentives:



Here's another more extensive side-by-side comparison on candidate positions from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. Click here to see it. It's a really good and easy to look at chart.

Stay tuned to our blog for more posts every day this week.

Sincerely,
Kevin L.
Community Relations

The Best Small Businesses in the Nation

Over the last two and half years, we've compiled the largest and most diverse group of local merchant members anywhere on the web. With 575,000 merchants, ranging from local plumbers, landscapers, restraunteurs, hair stylist, coffee shops, you name it, we've been able to assemble the most comprehensive view point on merchants, their needs, concerns and habits.

We've gauged them on a number of issues - surveying real estate agents after the housing bust, compiling statistics on merchant advertising spending and preferences, print and online ad effectiveness, business confidence, etc. - currently, we've just gotten under way interviewing merchants in several battleground states for November's Presidential election. We want to make sure local merchants know who and how which candidates will effect their business. Be sure to read the MerchantCircle blog for new postings.

For now, check out our recently redone 'Merchant Showcase', which we've been compiling over the last couple of months, interviewing our merchants about their advertising experiences with print Yellow Pages, local newspapers, radio, television, Google Adwords, Banner Ads and MerchantCircle. Learn what they did right and what they did wrong. Click here to read more.



Sincerely,
Kevin L.
Community Relations

Sarah Palin as Wasilla, AK Mayor and What Small Businesses Think

In a town of just over 7,000 residents (double if you count the outlying area), it's hard to find one person who has anything bad to say about their former mayor. As the current Governor of Alaska, and Vice Presidential nominee for the Republican Party ticket, Sarah Palin still lives in tiny Wasilla, AK - driving herself to and from work and still yelling support at her kids' hockey games. Every business owner (and MerchantCircle members) I spoke to in Wasilla has met Gov. Palin and many count her as a friend.

"She's awesome. I know her personally, so you may call me biased, but she's just real down-to-earth," says Denise Rexford, owner of Stampin Moose. "We'd like to keep her as the Governor of Alaska, but she can better the state of the entire country."

As the mayor of Wasilla, Governor Palin developed a reputation for reducing spending and cutting taxes. During her speech at the Republican National Convention, Becky Raterree of Northen Mist Gifts pointed out Governor Palin's 'shout out' to small business owners.

"I like the fact that she mentioned her sister and brother-in-law both own a small business. One thing she could do is make sure that the tax issue is kept in line for small business owners. It would be nice if taxes are cut, but it just needs to stay the same," says Raterree.

Wasilla boasts one of the largest number of MerchantCircle members per capita. Even with 236 members, we had to travel outside of Wasilla to find someone who wouldn't vote for Governor Palin on the Republican ticket.

"I didn't vote for her for Governor, but I think she's done a good job," says Mark Boberick of Polar Breeze Bandanas in Fairbanks, AK. "I won't vote for her on the McCain ticket, because I'm firmly opposed to her abortion stance and I don't think she's prepared or has enough national experience for the job."

Still, whether Gov. Palin is elected or not, Boberick would like to see more information readily available to small business owners when it comes to programs and benefits.

"I had to find out a lot of the information on my own, by attending meetings from non-government agencies," say Boberick. "These programs can really help out struggling small businesses."

No matter what your political affiliation, almost all Alaskans and Wasillians are proud of their Governor, neighbor, and friend.

"I think we need an 'average Joe' in Washington," says Rexford. "As Governor and mayor, she's watched her money, stuck to her guns, and didn't break her promises. If she says she's going to do it, she'll do it. And we'll be behind her every step of the way."

Finding the Best Business Deals on the Web

While the economy is at a standstill, many consumers and families are finding ways to cut costs at home. Whether it's carpooling to work and school, clipping coupons, or cutting back on that daily Starbucks expense, consumers are becoming smarter when it comes to spending their money. For business owners, it's important that you do the same. We've written plenty of times about getting rid of those Print Yellow page ads, but this time we're talking about cutting costs on the back end.

MerchantCircle has launched Merchant Marketplace, which will allow business owners to find the best deals on services from Fortune 500 companies, including print, credit card, office supplies, and business software. The special offers help out our growing merchant base, which is currently at 575,000 merchants, and compete with deals that normally big box retailers get for buying in bulk. The release is just one more step that will allow local merchants all over the nation to cut expenses and take home more money at the end of the day.

You can find the Merchant Marketplace by logging into your account: http://www.merchantcircle.com/merchant/marketplace

Sincerely,
Kevin
Community Relations

Local Directories and Review Sites

We've long advocated that business owners need to take control and manage what's being said about them on the web - trouble is, there's far too many websites that cater to consumer reviews to keep track of. One thing we've always done for merchants is to show you where your business is listed, whether it's listed correctly, and how many reviews you have.



We know it's imperative for a business owner to be listed on as many 'free' directories as possible - so hurry up already and get yourself on there. Or you can have MerchantCircle do it for you as well. (Click here for more details.) Engage in active dialogue with your reviewers, always stay calm, collected, and invite unsatisfied customers back to see the changes 'you've made' or 'issues you've addressed.'

While more than 75% of our 550,000 merchants use us as their main web presence, we also offer a section for consumer reviews and dialogue between you and your customers. Just this last week BusinessWeek featured us in a list of review sites that merchants should be aware of. (Click here to read more). Don't be scared off by their comment, the author's point was that many of our merchants have signed up in communities as small as 1,000 people. As a merchant, take note of these sites; It can't hurt. Also check out this previous post from Entrepreneur that features us as well, it's titled: "15 Sites for Promoting Your Local Business". (Click here to read it).

Sincerely,
Kevin
Community Relations

LOCAL Business Network

When talking about 'local' sometimes we don't truly go 'local' enough. Many times, it's confined to the city, or county, or region, but for anyone who's ever spent time in a town or city, we all know you can't just say: "....that great pizza shop is located in San Francisco," or "... just head into Boston, that's where you'll find the Steak Restaurant" and just leave it at that. Every area has different monikers. That why we've been tinkering with our 'city pages'.

Below is a city listing for Youngstown, OH:


If you click the 'Neighborhood' drop down tab next to the Search button - you'll be able to search by neighborhoods and specific areas. See below:



Here's one for San Francisco:



With greater 'local' features, MerchantCircle members will have more venues to reach out to their local community. Coupons, blogs and other merchant content are on all 'neighborhood' pages. Make sure you take advantage of all of MerchantCircle's free tools!

Sincerely,
Kevin L.
Community Relations

Easy Website Creation

More than 55% of an estimated 15 million local businesses in the US do not have a website (SMI).

You can argue about the value of advertising in the Yellow Pages compared to advertising online all you want (which we've done often here), but there really is very little argument on the importance of a business website. It's often times the gateway between knowing whether a business is legitimate or not and, quite simply, to just check out some of the goods being offered.

While more than 75% of our 550,000 merchants use their MerchantCircle listing as their only and main web presence, we decided to increase our advertising offerings even more to help merchants find more local customers. That's why today, we launched the web's first 'Instant Website' and domain name offering. With just the click of a button, you can pick a unique domain name and all of your MerchantCircle content is pulled to create your new website - instantly. There's no need for HTML experience, finding someone to host it, transferring the domain name - it's the easiest and pain-free method on the web.

Take for instance what Damian McAllister of The Falk Company in Fargo, ND says:

“I bought The Falk Company in 2004 and they had 60 customers nationwide for
their Camfo Crème with no web presence. Since putting my business on
MerchantCircle, I now have 300 customers, but I want to grow my business even
more. Having a domain name and website through MerchantCircle will help me out even more on search engines and it’s been an amazingly simple process.
Literally, I just clicked a button.”

Check out Damian's new website at http://www.camfocreme.com/ below:



Anytime Damian adds a new picture, builds a new coupon, or writes a new blog on his MerchantCircle listing, it automatically updates on his website. It's the equivalent of updating your Myspace page or Facebook profile. No need for any tech knowledge. It's really simple, easy, and quite addicting!

Enjoy,
Kevin L.
Community Relations